A FILM warning of the dangers of online grooming has won a prestigious award from The Royal Television Society (RTS).

Kayleigh’s Love Story, produced by Leicestershire Police following the rape and murder of 15-year-old Measham teenager Kayleigh Haywood, won the Gold award in the Best Promotional category from the RTS at a ceremony on Thursday night (November 3).

It is the second award won by the five-minute film in the last few weeks.

Kayleigh’s Love Story tells how the schoolgirl was groomed on line by Luke Harlow, a man she had never met.

During the course of 13 days, Harlow exchanged more than 2,600 text messages with Kayleigh, showering her with compliments and bogus words of affection before she finally agreed to spend the evening at his house.

Two days later, having been held against her will by Harlow and his next door neighbour Stephen Beadman, Kayleigh was raped and murdered by Beadman and her body left in a wood.

The film, made on behalf of the Force by Affixxius Films of Loughborough, was shot on location over five days in February this year with a professional cast.

It is currently being shown to every child aged 11 and above in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland in controlled screenings by specially-training Police Community Support Officers.

Deputy Chief Constable Roger Bannister said: “What happened to Kayleigh was an unspeakable tragedy, for her, for her family, for her friends and for the whole community.

“We believe it is vital that her story is told, to every child in the country.

“It serves as a wake-up call, for every child and every adult, that there are those attempting to groom children on line and we must all heed the warnings.

“The Gold award from the Royal Television Society is extremely welcome. Whilst it is a tribute to the professionalism, skill and sensitivity brought to the project by our communications department and by Affixxius Films, even more importantly it will provide further publicity to the warning message the film contains.

“And if that helps protect children, then we are extremely pleased”.

Miles Latham, Managing Partner at Affixxius, said: “Given the circumstances surrounding the production of this film we are humbly honoured that the importance of the message of Kayleigh’s Love Story has been recognised so highly by an organisation as prestigious as the Royal Television Society.

“The hard work and sensitivity of the Affixxius Films team, alongside Leicestershire Police, makes me very proud and we sincerely hope that this award can be yet another springboard for the film and its message of warning to young people across the UK and the rest of the world.”

Last month the film won the Bronze Award in the Social Screen category of the Clarion Awards run by EVCOM – the so-called Oscars for specialist videos produced by the corporate and charity sectors.

Leicestershire Police plan to post the film online in January next year.